You can do literally everything with dumbbells. Yes, you can certainly do squats, presses, deadlifts, and so forth with dumbbells, however, they will NOT be AS effective as barbell exercises in terms of strength training. However, for conditioning, as well as hypertrophy, and some strength gains, as well as stabilizer improvement, dumbbells are excellent! You can do almost all exercises with dumbbells that you would normally do with barbells.

Not exactly. If you are training the 5x5 the way it is meant to be trained, which is really pushing your maximum abilities, you will need to be on a bulk. If you are training a very hard strength routine on a cut, you are not only risking serious injury (due to the weakened state the body is in, with less recovery ability), but also reducing your total weight potential because of reduced glycogen levels in the muscles.

I don't advocate 5x5 or hypertrophy during cutting - both are good for bulking, but serve different purposes. Hypertrophy is for size gains, and 5x5 is for strength gains. Hypertrophy will increase strength, just at a slower rate, just as 5x5 will increase size, but also at a slower rate.

If you want to alternate 5x5 with hypertrophy, you certainly can. Just make sure to do at least 4 weeks of each, alternating.

If you are cutting, it is best to do some failure sets and breakdowns for the purposes of glycogen depletion, however they are never performed to the same weight and intensity as hypertrophy. Think of cutting as more cardiovascular in nature, with focus on depletion of glycogen and minimal muscle tearing, due to the reduced ability for the body to recover.

Was going to make a thread before I saw this so I'll just ask you instead, anybody else is welcome to share their suggestions and/or answers. I've been looking into buying an adjustable dumbbell set for the house and all I can find are ones that max at 52.5 lbs. Are there no adjustable dumbbell sets that go higher, say up to 80-100 lbs each? Am I going to have to buy a separate set of dumbbells when I need to use those weights?

There are many that go above 52.5 lbs.

Bowflex 1090s, powerblock u-90, Ironmaster Quicklock, and so forth.

I'll look into those thanks and somebody also PMed me with another option

I'll come back here if I need more help so thanks for taking the time to answer all these from everybody:)

iirc you recommended butter over margarine because margarine often has trans fat. coworker recommended using margarine for a recipe i was making, and i noticed the kroger brand doesnt have any trans fat and it has about half the saturated fat of butter, plus it's softer. is butter still superior to this?



the only thing that nags me is the sodium content since i couldn't find an unsalted margarine. but as long as i keep the serving size small i dont think it's a big problem

For softer butter, just get whipped butter.

As far as this product goes, I do not like the ingredients. My major concerns are Soybean Oil, which is largely made from GMO soybeans, which regardless of the GMO concern or not, are estrogenic. It also contains artificial preservatives including mono and diglycerides and potassium sorbate.

In general, rare use of the product shouldn't cause any negative effects. However, I don't recommend prolonged use of any product containing such ingredients. I tend to bide on the side of the KNOWN, rather than the UNKNOWN. Most artificial preservatives as well as GMO products, have not been studied long enough or under the proper conditions in order to determine if any serious health concerns for them exist in humans. As a result, I advise people to stay as far away from synthetic and artificial products as possible, and stick to the most KNOWN whole-food and natural ingredients as possible.

Raynor could you help explain this? Whenever I drink I always wake up so early. Like I know I need the sleep but I can't get it.

I make sure always to stay hydrated when I drink. before going out I had a few cups of water, then when we made it to this apartment party I filled up my solo cup twice w/ water, and I don't really remember if I hydrated when I got back to my house, but I know when I briefly woke up mid night I took some swigs of my water gallon I keep in my room. Probably had about 10 alcoholic drinks total that I can recall.

I went to bed at 3am, woke up at 8am. I was drunk as hell when I went to bed, but woke up feeling like a god. I felt so good that I decided to get my workout in early, so i walked 15 minutes to get my car from my friends place, got subway, but as soon after I ate at around 9 I started feeling like shit. It was the food that changed how I felt for sure. I struggled n made it to the gym, and am back now and finally feeling a bit better. Its almost 12 now and I'm back to feeling god mode as I was pre-subway, so maybe it's because the food is about done being digested?

So 2 questions really. Why do i wake up so early and why did I switch from feeling so good to bad after eating?

This post was edited by MrBobMarley on Nov 16 2013 11:03am

These are EXCELLENT questions!

First of all, as far as hydration goes, you need approximately 8 oz of water per alcoholic beverage just to stay neutral in terms of hydration. An alcoholic beverage consists of 1.5 oz of 80 proof liquor, 4 oz of red/white wine, or 12 oz of a 4-5% beer.

That being said, there are a few things that can prohibit you getting a full nights sleep with regard to alcohol consumption.

1. Increased heart rate and blood pressure
2. Increased stress on the bladder
3. Increased dehydration
4. Prohibition of REM sleep due to increased alcohol metabolism and/or insulin.
5. Increased speed at which body will achieve REM due to the alcoholic numbing factor
6. Increased body heat due to influx of calories (energy)
7. Alcohol Withdrawal

Reasons you will feel worse later on:


1. Stomach acidity levels fluctuating
2. Dehydration (again)
3. Sudden drops in insulin and/or caloric stores
4. Alcohol Withdrawal
5. Liver Toxicity



There are many more potential issues, however, these are the most likely. The solution, however, is simply not to drink to excess. However, if you MUST, consume at least 8-10 oz of water with every single alcoholic beverage consumed (that's around 80-100 oz of water for 10 drinks). Avoid sugary mixers, as these will exacerbate the problem. Eat a good meal prior to drinking, and a light meal after drinking. Urinate immediately before going to bed

Well, the gf and I broke up so it looks like I'm going into aesthetics for this summer. Whats a good hypertrophy plan for 5 days a week for 1-1.5 hrs?